Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Monday that Delaware would join a national lawsuit challenging a new "gag rule" that would prevent family planning clinics from referring patients for abortions.

The rule could impact thousands of Delawareans who rely on family planning clinics and health centers that receive Title X funding, Jennings' office said.

Title X is the only federal grant program that funds family planning programs to help patients access contraception, cancer screenings, exams, and related health services, according to Jennings' office.

“Access to basic family planning should never be secondary to a political agenda,” Jennings said in a statement. “The Trump Administration’s efforts to undermine reproductive rights are cruel, ineffective, and harmful.

"Rather than preventing unwanted pregnancies or promoting effective alternatives to abortion, the Title X changes threaten millions of people’s access to family planning services, restrict doctors’ freedom to provide quality medical advice, and threaten to close down health care facilities that are often the only show in town for low-income or uninsured Americans.”

We're joining @ORDOJ, DC, & 19 other states in a lawsuit over the Trump Admin's Title X gag rule" Instead of obsessing over women's bodies, we should be protecting the health of the >19k patients served by #netDE Title X facilities in 2017 alone. More at: https://t.co/WB1NapOwlipic.twitter.com/k99sLsAMwb

Once it is published in the Federal Register, the final version of the rule will go into effect after 60 days if there isn't a court injunction.

Title X funds already are not allowed to be used for abortion services, but rather for sexually transmitted infection testing/treatment, HIV testing, birth control, cancer screenings, annual preventive visits, pregnancy tests and pap smears.

Under the final rule, any provider that performs abortions must be financially and physically separate, forcing health centers to build new facilities where staff can counsel on, refer and provide abortions.

From 2014 to 2017 it helped increase long-acting reversible contraceptive use from 13.7 percent to 31.5 percent among Delaware Title X family planning clients ages 20 to 39.

This resulted in a 24 percent simulated decrease in unintended pregnancies among this population according to Upstream USA, a partner nonprofit.

Chris Plante, policy director of the Christian group Family Policy Institute of Washington, called the legal challenge "wrongheaded" and said the new policy "simply returns the Title X regulations back to their original legislative intent: 'None of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.'"

Dr. Erin Berry, Washington State Medical Director for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, holds a folder as she listens at a news conference announcing a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's Title X "gag rule" Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, in Seattle. The rule issued last Friday would impact federal funding for reproductive health care and family planning services.(Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP)

While the new rule would permit clinic staff to discuss abortion with clients, it would no longer be required that they do so. If patients ask for an abortion referral, staff would be required to give a list of primary care providers with no indication as to which provide abortions.

The list would have to include providers who do not offer abortions, and it could not include clinics or organizations that aren't primary care providers.

Some have called the new rule "a transparent attack on Planned Parenthood," which has long been opposed by anti-abortion advocates. Religious conservatives and abortion opponents have long complained that Title X has been used to indirectly subsidize abortion providers.

Abortion is a legal medical procedure, but federal laws prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman.

Joining Delaware and Oregon in the lawsuit are Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown gives her remarks in support of House Bill 1, equal rights amendment to the state constitution, during session at Legislative Hall in Dover. Jason Minto, The News Journal

Charles S Postles Jr., R-Milford North gives his remarks against House Bill 1, equal rights amendment to the state constitution, during session at Legislative Hall in Dover. Jason Minto, The News Journal